It can be easy to see one side of a coin and think nothing but fluffy, positive thoughts. Depending on the shading, spin and angle from which you view it, that one side can put those who believe in it into a euphoric state.

Unfortunately, in downtown Los Angeles, the second side of the coin is now front and center and forcing the Guggenheim Baseball Management group into a corner out of which it will be tricky to maneuver.

That freshly minted ownership group stood on a stage in center field at Dodger Stadium under a cloudy, gray sky in May and vowed to be different from the organization’s previous regime that pinched pennies and rarely made a helpful deadline trade. The new group also promised to do whatever it takes to return the team to prominence.

With the Dodgers in contention, their still-guarded fan base sees this as a perfect opportunity for the Guggenheim group to prove itself. And with team chairman Mark Walter declaring last week that the baseball operations department—president Stan Kasten and general manager Ned Colletti—would not have any budget restrictions as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline slithers closer, expectations are high.

Then there was that bold, exciting statement a little more than a month ago from Kasten, the main man in charge of remaking the Dodgers.

“I promise you, we’ll explore everything,” Kasten said. “Look, as candid as I can be, we’re the Dodgers. We’re supposed to be big. We intend to be big. Will we look at big things? You bet.”

He also noted that while the team doesn’t have the bushel of prospects it takes to usually land a big-name target, the Dodgers would be willing to supplement a trade with cash. While that isn’t necessarily an assurance that the Dodgers will make a blockbuster trade before the deadline, Kasten’s words created incredible buzz.

Now, from a public relations standpoint, the worst thing the Dodgers can do is nothing. Standing pat as the deadline zooms by is not an option in the minds of the loyalists who have come back to Chavez Ravine this summer after deserting it in 2011. If ownership does that, it will have taken an extra step back from whatever forward movement it’s made since being crowned.

Again, the problem for Kasten and Colletti is that the Dodgers can’t put together a prospect package to land that big-time starting pitcher they desire and need. Top-tier minor league talent is lacking for the most part, and that is because spending on the draft and international players was choked during previous owner Frank McCourt’s time at the wheel.

Many teams are asking, but it would not be wise to move top pitching prospect Zach Lee, 20, for a two-month rental like Ryan Dempster. It also wouldn't be smart to use him in a lateral move for someone like Matt Garza, whose career numbers are essentially the same as Chad Billingsley’s, who also hasn’t lived up to his hype and is due a significant raise in arbitration next year.

“Their focus has to be to replenish their system because there isn’t a lot there that sparks excitement except for maybe Lee,” a National League scout said. “Giving up prospects right now wouldn’t be smart, especially for nothing more than a guy who might make 10 starts.”

Of course not, and Kasten knows that. For that reason he has been less brash with his recent comments regarding the trade deadline as the Dodgers sit in second place in the NL West and in the lead for the second wild card spot.

He tamped down Walter’s comments about money not being a restriction by saying last week that any trade would “have to be governed by reason” and “make sense long term” while also noting that building the Dodgers into an annual NL power “probably can’t be done overnight.”

Besides Dempster and Garza, the Dodgers have made calls about Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke on the pitching front. As for hitters, they’ve been linked to Chase Headley, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Aramis Ramirez and, most recently, Hanley Ramirez. Every one of those players could help the Dodgers' chances of playing and succeeding in October, but none of them make a ton of long-term sense when it comes to their price tags. That is, unless they can figure out a way to re-sign the likes of Greinke, Hamels or Victorino, who can all become free agents after this season.

Winning a wild-card berth doesn’t hold the same weight as it did last season–it guarantees only one extra game in a pseudo-postseason–so the only way it makes sense for the Dodgers to give up a load of prospects is if it results in a World Series championship. Since there is no way to predict that outcome, it leaves the team in an unenviable position.

Mortgage their long-term future to pull off a major-impact trade to possibly help their title aspirations and appease a starving fan base, or be wise and not pay an exorbitant asking price and not pull off a blockbuster deal, thus upsetting a town desperate for a baseball team to believe in?

Decisions, decisions. Tick tock, tick tock. Reality and time have now exposed the other side of the shiny organizational coin. Over the next week, it will be up to Kasten and Colletti to put it in the proper light for the public.